Sunday, October 26, 2014

Oil shipments across Washington could triple by 2020

Nearly 3 billion gallons of crude oil will move through Washington on
trains this year, and that figure could triple in five years.

Communities
along the route and state regulators aren’t ready for the current
volume of oil trains – about 19 per week, each about 100 tank cars – let
alone the expected surge in oil traffic, according to a preliminary
state report, which is the subject of a Tuesday hearing in Spokane.

Among the findings:

• Sixty-two percent of local fire districts along oil train routes say
their firefighters don’t have the necessary training or equipment to
respond to tank-car derailments. Derailments caused a string of fiery
explosions in the U.S. and Canada over the past 18 months, including the
July 2013 accident that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.

• Nearly 3 million Washington residents live in cities on or near oil train routes.

• The report recommends $13 million worth of actions to increase the
state’s preparedness. The list includes hiring eight railroad
inspectors; more money for the state’s oil spill response and prevention
program; additional firefighting and spill containment equipment; and
financial guarantees from oil shippers that they could cover cleanup
costs and damages from a spill or derailment.

“The key to
protecting the public and environment is the prevention of derailments
and rail accidents in the first place,” the report said.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will use the 110-page report to develop a proposal to send to the Legislature next year..... read more here

For info about the public hearing on 10/30 in Olympia about this report , see here: